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ndex Venetian Dialect Grammar Rules Phraseology Greetings Direction Transport Hotel Restaurant Shopping
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enetian Dialect HISTORY The veneto lagunare o veneto de màr, or, more simply, veneziano (Venetian language), is a variation of Veneto language, spoken in Venice and in the neighbouring areas, that was, with the Latin, the official language of the Serenissima Venice Republic. The term “dialect” regarding Venetian dialect, is somehow deceptive because it make it seem a variation of the Italian language. The Venetian language, instead, precedes the Italian of one hundred years. It was naturally and autonomously born, spoken in the North-East of the peninsula. The Italian language was a language artificially created, based primarily on the vernacular Tuscan language and forged by XV century’s studiouses and humanists that attempted to find a national language, written and spoken, for the entire population of the not yet unified country. The knowdledge of the universally known Italian language was reached only at the half of XX century. Therefore the Venetian dialect is a language with very ancient roots, and some of them are today present in the actual lexicon. The studiouses in order to distinguish ancient Venetian language with the current language, named it “Venetico”. A lot of inscriptions in this language were found in Veneto. The alphabet was similar to the Etruscan and partially to the Greek one. Venetico language 01
contributed to create the Latin transferring there some of its words. With the entry of Venetia et Histria in the Roman Empire, Venetic language was substituted by the Latin, with conservation of typical idioms that flew into Venetian current language. Venetian language, for several aspects different from Italian language, is still spoken by the majority of venetian lagoon people, Mestre-Marghera urban sprawl and West tail pieces. Still today in the Venetian standard language, there are differences between Burano Island, Pellestrina and Chioggia, and also little variations can be noticed between the spoken language of Cannaregio, Castello and Giudecca Island. SPELLING For what concern the spelling of Venetian language, no “standard” were assigned. Some authors, writing on paper, followed their fantasy. For example, Goldoni introduced the “X” to indicate the spoken “Z”. The Venetian writing system is not following a strict pronounce, now. For example the words “egli” and “ella” (“he” and “she”), conventionally written “lu” and “ela”, are now pronunced “yu” and “eya”. The so-called “vanishing l” (initial and in-between that disappears between two vocals) is one of the impressive peculiarity of the spoken language, that rarely is reflected in the 02
spelling (“fradelo” e “sorela” are pronounced “fradeo” e “sorea”). SURVIVAL FACTOR A big survival factor of Venetian language regards the pride that people, of all the social classes , fell while speaking it. The pure Venetian dialect is used either from the less well-read person, having few contacts with Italian speaker, and from the better-knowing people, aware of the difference with the correct Italian. VENETIAN WORDS Also English language borrowed some words from Venetian lexicon: articioco, gheto, imbroglio, gondola, laguna, lido, loto, marzapan, pantalon, pistachio, quarantena, regata, scanpi, zechin e zani. And the very used word “ciao” is a contraction of the politeness venetian greeting “schiavo vostro”.
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rammar Rules The Veneziano is different from other languages of Veneto firstly for intonation and pronunciation. The general cadence is the typical one of all the Veneto dialects, but for the Venezia citizens the rhythm is less singsong. Absolutely peculiar of Veneziano are some alterings of pronunciation that are not present in the other Veneto dialects: Strong shortening of the liquid consonant “l” and “r”, when they are in front of vocals or in a intervocalic position. In the case of l the pronunciation in front of a vocal is almost mute; for example you can say “lui” like “lù” but you just spell “ù”, that sound more similar to the English “you” that to the Veneto pronunciation “lù”. In the same way the letter r have so a short sound to seem the English letter, but still perceivable. Close pronunciation of the letters “e” and “o” for the words strictly typical of the language, that are different from the Italian corresponding. Differently, in case of words that coincide with the Italian version the pronunciation are more open that the Italian one.
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Use of “g”, instead of “j” or “gli”, respectively use from the other Veneto dialects or from Italian: “meglio” become “mègio” and not “mèjo” like for the other dialects; “tagliare” become “tagiàr” and not “tajàr”. Absence of almost all the double letters. Cutting off of the “e” at the end of all the infinite verbs, like “magnàr”, “savér”. Absence of verbs in –ar with the last syllable without accent, substitute by verbs in –er (example: “tàsar” become “tàxer”, “bèvar” become “bèver”). Addition of an “s” and the ending in “u” for the contract interrogative forms of the singular second person. “vuoi?” is said “vùstu?” instead of “vùtu?” or “vùto?”, “hai?” is said “gàstu?” instead of “gàtu?” or “gàto?” and so on. Use of the not contract interrogative form and of a pronominal prefix “ti” instead of “te” for the singular second person (“ti ga visto” and not “te ga visto”) 05
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hraseology Le frasi in veneziano sono riportate secondo la loro pronuncia The frases in veneziano are report as they are pronounce
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reeting eng: good morning ita: buongiorno
bondì eng: good evening ita: buonasera
bonasera eng: how are you? ita: come sta?
come ti sta? eng: I speak a little bit of veneziano ita: parlo poco veneziano
[impossible to translate] o ti o parli o no ti o parli eng: can you speak slowly? ita: può parlare più lentamente
ti pol parlar più pian | ti pol andar più lento
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eng: nice to meet you ita: piacere di conoscerla
me fa piaser de averte conosuo eng: what’s your name? ita: come ti chiami?
che nome ti gĂ | come xĂŠ che i te fa ciamar eng: where are you from? ita: di dove sei?
da dove ti vien? eng: see you tomorrow ita: ci vediamo domani
se vedemo doman eng: can I make a call? ita: posso fare una telefonata?
ti me fa far na telefonada?
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irection eng: can you give me the direction for... ita: può indicarmi la strada per...
ti me disi par dove che se va pan dar... eng: is it far? ita: è molto lontano?
xe tanto distante? | ghe vol tanto tempo? eng: can you take me there, please? ita: potrebbe accompagnarmi, per piacere?
a podaria accompagnarme, par piaser eng: go on ita: piĂš avanti
ti va avanti eng: go back ita: piĂš indietro
ti vien indrio
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eng: straight on ita: sempre dritto
drito eng: you’re on the wrong way, go back ita: ha sbagliato, torni indietro
xe sbaglià tuto, bisogna che ti torni indrio eng: I don’t know, you should ask to someone alse ita: non lo so, chieda a qualcun altro
ti ga da domandarghe a qualche altro eng: go to... then ask again ita: vada fino a... poi chieda di nuovo
ti va fin vanti e dopo ti domandi ncora eng: is it too far to take a water bus? ita: è troppo lontano per prendere il vaporetto?
xe tanto lontan par ciapar el vaporeto?
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ransport eng: where is the water bus stop? ita: dov’è la fermata del vaporetto
dove xe la fermata del bateo? eng: where can I buy the ticket? ita: dove posso comprare il biglietto?
dove poso torme el biglieto pal bateo? eng: give me a ticket ita: mi dia un biglietto
al me da un biglieto pal bateo eng: I lost my ticket ita: ho smarrito il biglietto
go perso el biglieto eng: which water bus should I take? ita: quale vaporetto devo prendere?
che bateo go da ciapar?
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eng: when is the water bus going to pass? ita: a che ora passa il vaporetto?
a che ora xe che pasa el bateo? eng: where should I get off ? ita: dove devo scendere?
dove go da smontar? eng: where can I find a gondola? ita: dove posso trovare una gondola?
dove poso ndarme trovar na gondola? eng: I’m seek, do you have something for seasickness? ita: ho la nausea, avete qualcosa contro il mal di mare?
go rebalton de stomego, ti ga calcosa che me lo fasa pasar eng: how much is it? ita: quanto le devo?
quanti schei te go da dar? |cosa te go da pagar?
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otel eng: I would like a room ita: vorrei una camera
voria na camara eng: is breakfast included in the price? ita: la prima colazione è compresa nel prezzo?
el cafeate se compreso nel total? eng: on which floor is my room? ita: a che piano si trova la mia stanza?
a che pian xe la camara? eng: is there an elevator? ita: c’è l’ascensore?
ghe xe anca l’ascensor? eng: I don’t like the room, I want to change it ita: la camera non mi piace, vorrei cambiarla
no me piase minga sta camara sa, bisogna che ti me la cambi
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eng: can you serve me breakfast in my room? ita: può portarmi la colazione in camera?
ti pò portarme el cafeate in camara? eng: I want to speak with the manager ita: mi faccia parlare con il direttore
voria parlar col paron eng: can you have the washbasin repair? ita: può far riparare il lavandino?
ti me mandi qualcheduni che me sgoza el lavandin? eng: are there any messages for me? ita: ci sono messaggi per me?
ghe xe qualche scrito par me eng: do you accept credi cards? ita: accettate carte di credito?
pagamento solo contanti, i baiochi, el scheo
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estaurant eng: is there a restaurant near here? ita: c’è un ristorante qui vicino?
ghe xe na ostaria qua visin eng: I would like to reserve a table for two ita: vorrei prenotare un tavolo per due
voria che i me riservase un tavoin par do eng: sorry, where is the restroom? ita: scusi, dov’è il bagno?
scusa, el gabineto? | scusa, el ceso? eng: is there a lot to wait? ita: c’è molto da aspettare?
ghe xe tanto da spetar? eng: I’m waiting some friends ita: aspetto degli amici
speto dei amighi
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eng: take me a glass of wine ita: mi porti un bicchiere di vino
ti me porti na ombreta de vin eng: can you suggest me something special? ita: potete consigliarmi qualcosa di speciale?
ti podarisi dirme qualche piato particoar eng: which are the ingredients of this dish? ita: quali sono gli ingredienti di questo piatto?
cosa ghe xe dentro sti magnari? eng: waiter? ita: cameriere!
camarier! eng: the check, please ita: il conto per favore
dame sto conto, par piacer
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hopping eng: where can I buy some fish? ita: dove posso comprare del pesce?
dove poso comprarme del pese? eng: where is the market? ita: dov’è il mercato?
dove xe el mercà? eng: I would like a kilo of sardine. are they fresh? ita: vorrei un chilo di sardine. sono fresche?
voria un chilo de sardee, zele de alba? eng: is there a clothes shop near here? ita: c’è un negozio d’abbigliamento qui vicino?
andaria in serca de na botega de vestiario, ghe ne una qua vicin? eng: can I try this shirt? ita: posso provare questa maglia?
potaria provarme sta maja?
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eng: do you have it in some other colour? ita: avete altri colori?
gavè altri tipi, altri colori? eng: it’s too tight, I want a bigger size ita: è stretta, vorrei una taglia più grande
la me se streta, voria na misura più ‘arga eng: too much expensive, do you have something cheaper? ita: è troppo caro, avete qualcosa di più economio?
a costa na barca de schei, ghavè qualcosa da manco schei? eng: I would like a gift wrapping ita: mi fa una confezione regalo
ti me fa un pachetto che sia presentabile, go da regalarlo
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“altro no go, me despiase. a xe un dialeto ormai rimanegià... de mejo nol se puol fà”